October!

Last Saturday we went with our new group of friends to Kackleberry Farms, which has a corn maze, petting zoo, pumpkin patch, cow train ride, and all sorts of other fun stuff.





Later that day, Jerry's brother and his family came out to visit for the rest of the weekend. We had so much fun, but I forgot to take any pictures. Grrr. Monday, Jerry's other brother and his wife came to join the party and it was so great to have a full house! Not to mention people to play games with.


I am now 34 weeks and here is the latest belly shot.

Jonah is the best!!

Bragging Alert!!!

My son is the best! The older he gets the easier he gets to take care of (and the cuter he gets!) Since he was born, we've had to get him to sleep before we could lay him in his crib. Now I can just read him a book, sing him a song, lay him down, and say goodnight and he just quietly lays there until he falls asleep! It is so amazing I can't even tell you. This is for both naps and bedtime. He is also taking 1 1/2 to 2 hour naps at the same time everyday. I gotta say, the Lord knows what I can handle, and the farther along in my pregnancy I get, the more Jonah is taking care of himself. Ever since our vacation last month I have been really relaxed and I've really needed it. I feel like I've been stressed out basically for the last 2 years, ever since I got pregnant with Jonah.

Also...
He is becoming so independent. When he wants something instead of throwing a tantrum, he just keeps trying different things until he gets it. Last night Jerry and I were having a bowl of ice cream. We got involved in a conversation and we both kept forgetting to give Jonah bites. After walking back and forth between us for a few minutes, Jonah left the room. Suddenly I look down and Jonah had gone to the kitchen, gotten a spoon out of the drawer and came back in the living room and was helping himself to my ice cream. What a smarty!! When he can't get something he wants on his own, he will come find me, grab my finger and take me to what he wants or what he needs help with. If he gets hungry, he takes me into the kitchen and leads me to the pantry or gestures at his high chair and try's to climb in himself.

I'm sure I'm in for it soon when the terrible two's hit, but I am really enjoying this time with him.

We've been pretty busy this month. Playgroups, Dr.'s appointments, and Stake conference. One of the most fun things I've done is join 2 book clubs. One is a church book club, I really have so many awesome women in my ward. The other is with a small groups of mom's I met through a community playgroup. We all have small children the same age and even though most of us just met, I already feel like we're all old friends. We are also doing weekly play dates together and a babysitting co-op (we watch each others kids for free and just exchange tickets instead of money to keep it fair and equal).

The weather has also finally cooled off and it is so beautiful! I can't tell you how nice it is to open the windows and spend time outside. We are all loving it!

Here is a video from last night. We were outside watering the garden and Jonah got a hold of the hose. He had SO MUCH FUN!

Trip to Utah! pt 2

We had such a great vacation in Utah! We thought that being gone for a month would be so hard and stressful, but we had a really nice, relaxing time. Well, I did. Jerry had to work everyday, so it wasn't much fun for him, but we all still had a nice time. We were able to stay up American Fork canyon where Jerry's parents live. They let us stay in their nice trailer and it was really nice to have our own space, since we were there so long.

Jonah enjoying breakfast. A lot :)

Jonah spent like 45 minutes loading fruit loops in my hairbrush.


Helping BBQ


Jonah and Jerry at Highland splash park

We even got to go on quite a few dates (Thank you family babysitters) Here we are at a Bees game.

Jonah loves to vacuum!



Jerry got to go mountain biking with his brother Brad. They had a good time.


Jonah playing with his cousin Riley up in the mountains.


Jonah and my best friend Emily's son, Tucker.


Jerry and my Aunt Jenny running the Swiss Days 10k.

At Aunt Kristi's riding the tractor...

and the horses.

We were also able to spend a couple of days at my Grandparents cabin up in Midway. Jonah had so much fun playing with my Aunt Jenny's dogs.

S'mores at the Cabin.

It was such a wonderful trip. The drive home wasn't too bad. Just long. We didn't get to stop for more than a night at my sisters, so it was 4 days of straight driving. We played the license plate game and we were able to get 47 of the 51 states (50 + Washington DC) The only one's we didn't see were Vermont, Delaware, and Rhode Island.

It is good to be home now, and now it's time to start getting ready for the new baby.

Trip to Utah!

Day 1: Augusta, GA to Clarksville, TN
We set off at 12:30 pm and got as far as Clarksville, TN on the Tennessee/Kentucky border. We were stopped 3 separate times in traffic for about 45-60 min each time. Here are some beautiful views along the way:



And here is the old fashioned crib that the hotel there provided. I thought all hotels used port-a-cribs now.


Day 2: Clarksville, TN to Manhattan, KS
Not a very eventful day. We drove over the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers a few times, it always amazes me how huge these rivers are. Most of the bridges look like this:




We also past through St. Lewis and the beautiful arch, but didn't stop. We stopped there 5 years ago when we made this same drive. Of course 5 years ago it only took 2 1/2 days without kids instead of the 4 days it took with a toddler and me being 6 months pregnant.

We made it to Manhattan, KS where my sister lives and which also happens to be exactly half way.

Day 3: Manhattan, KS
Somehow we were able to work it out so that we had a whole week before we needed to be in Utah, and so we were able to stop for 2 days in Kansas and visit with my sister and her family. It was such a nice visit and a great way to break up the drive.

We visited a great splash park that puts the little one in Augusta to shame. We had such a blast, especially Jerry who had a great water gun fight with a couple other kids who were there.

My sister, Amelia, and her kids, Florence and Everhett.

Day 4: Manhattan, KS cont.
We went to a very small zoo called the "Sunset Zoo" which we think may be a place for old animals to come to die. Which is actually kinda sad, but we had fun making jokes about it the entire time. I thought I had taken lots of pictures at the zoo, but I don't have one, so I must have forgotten my camera. That evening we went to a park and had a little BBQ:



Here's the kids at bedtime. There was a small hole in the sheet, which they all thought would be fun to try to crawl inside. Needless to say, the sheet is ruined but they all got inside :)

Day 5: Manhattan, KS to Frisco, CO
Back on the road. A long day driving through Kansas. Here is what we looked at ALL DAY LONG: farms.

oh, and cows and power lines.

We made it to Frisco, CO which a small town just past Denver. It was so beautiful, we didn't want to leave! It reminded me of a mini Park City. There was a great rec. trail that started right outside our hotel and Jerry went on a great run around the small lake there.

Here's a random picture of what we would find Jonah doing in the back seat to keep himself entertained. He played with this box for like 30 min. He was so good by the way. We made it all the way there and back without either of us sitting in the back seat once. Granted the DVD player we picked up from my sister helped a lot (Thanks Milly!!)

Day 6: Frisco, CO to American Fork Canyon, UT

Another long boring day. I didn't take any pictures because I don't think there is anything good to see on the western side of CO or the Eastern side of UT. Jerry thinks it's beautiful, but me, not so much!

I'll post more of our trip another day!